Chapter 1108: Chapter 353: Get Up and Tell Me a Cold Joke
But the Warriors’ roster is not perfect either. In fact, Popovich believes the Warriors’ roster is very uneven.
Because as a championship-contending team, the Warriors only have Roger and Cattino Mobley who can reliably handle the ball.
Besides Roger and the Old Cat, the Warriors don’t have a third player with this skill. Stoudemire? He can drive to the basket, but his passing is terrible. His value lies in isolation play, not in facilitating teammates.
In other words, others’ offense heavily relies on playing off the ball, relying on Roger to attract the defense.
And if the ball ends up in Stoudemire’s hands, the Warriors’ offensive cohesion is disrupted, automatically turning into Stoudemire’s isolation play.
Gregg Popovich is racking his brains to find a way to exploit this uneven roster’s weaknesses.
He ultimately decides to clamp down on Roger’s passing, forcing him to go one-on-one and denying the Warriors’ others any scoring opportunities.
Of course, this doesn’t mean giving Roger an easy one-on-one. Duncan will actively move out to the free-throw line when Roger breaks through, applying some pressure.
This possession, the Spurs’ defense executed exactly this.
Roger faced Bowen’s perfectly distanced one-on-one defense and opted to speed up and break through.
Payton didn’t provide help, Parker didn’t either, leaving Roger without a passing option.
While Duncan was stationed near the free-throw line with arms wide open, like a large net, enveloping Roger.
Directly feeding the ball to Camby? Admiral stands right between the basket and Stoudemire. Whether Roger passes to Stoudemire or Camby, Admiral can form immediate interference.
In other words, the Spurs have shut down all of the Warriors’ options!
They force Roger to rely on difficult one-on-one plays!
Roger indeed did just that, unable to find a passing lane, he stopped abruptly and took a jump shot.
But with Duncan stepping up and stretching his arms, he interfered with Roger’s shot, and due to Duncan’s pressure, Roger couldn’t gather enough speed on his drive, allowing Bowen to quickly contest Roger’s shot as well.
Under double interference, Roger’s mid-range attempt clanked off the rim.
Simply put, Popovich’s strategy is fundamentally unchanged, which is to force the opponent into one-on-one plays and make difficult mid-range shots.
However, this year, the targeted tactics have become more detailed, making Roger’s mid-range offensive attempts even more challenging.
The Spurs’ defense succeeded in the first round, and in the next possession, Duncan played the hub at the low post, drawing the defense to assist Parker in a cut to the basket for a successful attack.
This showcases the greatness of Tim Duncan. It’s hard to imagine if O’Neal had to work so hard on defense moving to the high post and then just complementing teammates on offense, what chaos might ensue.
However, Duncan does whatever the team needs him to do. If the Spurs need him to put up a 35+15 stat line in a game, he will do it. If the team needs him to score 18 points in the fourth quarter, he will do it. If the team needs him to do the dirty work, protect rebounds, draw the double team for teammates, he will do it all the same.
What he does is dictated by what the team needs, not by what the stats demand.
He can play any role, aid the team anytime.
This makes him not just excellent, but extraordinary.
2-0, San Antonio Spurs take the lead.
Popovich, sitting on the bench, muttered with satisfaction, "I don’t need to watch your game tape, I don’t!"
"But you’ve clearly watched a lot," assistant coach Mike Budenholzer said.
"Shut up, Mike, if I say I haven’t watched, I haven’t!"
The game continued, playoff games are all about strategy, and of course, Spoelstra is aware of this too.
So in the second round, Roger started setting pick-and-rolls with Stoudemire.
Because Jeff Hornacek is the Warriors’ offensive coach, this season the Warriors’ offense is full of pick-and-rolls. The ghost of the Stockton-Malone pick-and-roll is reviving in Oakland.
In the previous round, Malone got a taste of how disgusting this pick-and-roll can be.
And in the postseason, the most effective offensive strategies definitely need to be used repeatedly with a target in mind.
Admiral still follows Duncan’s lead, pulling up defensively, immediately switching to Roger the moment the pick-and-roll happens.
Meanwhile, Duncan stands firm under the basket, preventing Stoudemire’s roll to the rim and also stopping Roger from driving past Admiral to the basket.
In the face of the Warriors’ seemingly almighty pick-and-roll, among the options of "Roger mid-range", "Roger drive to the basket", "Stoudemire roll to the rim", "Stoudemire mid-range", Popovich chose to heavily suppress the first three.
Regarding defensive strategy, you can only seek to minimize harm; you can never cover everything.
Popovich doesn’t believe Stoudemire’s mid-range can decide the game; he sees it as something the Spurs can afford, and he’s willing to bet on it.
Roger played along, facing Duncan retreating to the basket and Admiral stepping up, he made a bounce pass to Stoudemire.
Stoudemire caught the ball and shot immediately, with Duncan rushing at him, providing some interference.
From a strategic standpoint, the Spurs’ defense was successful again, as Stoudemire taking the shot was exactly what Popovich wanted to see.
Yet, as the net rolled, the result of the Spurs’ defense didn’t go as planned.
Stoudemire nailed it despite Duncan’s slight interference!
After the ball went in, Stoudemire pounded his chest and yelled to the sky.
The hot-blooded jump shot had a certain Kevin Garnett aesthetic.
However, clutch jump shooting isn’t bad. Garnett’s critical jump shots are criticized because as the star player, he can’t solely rely on jump shots in clutch moments.